Texas State officially joins rebuilt Pac-12 as eighth football member
Texas State is set to join the conference ahead of the 2026 football season as the Pac-12 continues to rebuild following its mass defections in the summer of 2024.
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The Bobcats have been at the top level of college football for just 13 seasons. After a season in the WAC, Texas State joined the Sun Belt and has been in the conference for the past dozen years. After back-to-back 4-8 seasons in 2021 and 2022, the school hired former Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne and it has made a bowl game in each of the past two seasons.
Kinne's teams went 8-5 in both 2023 and 2024 and have ended the seasons with wins in the First Responder Bowl. Those were the first postseason games for the program.
Texas State's move to the Pac-12 had been reported on for some time and had a financial deadline of sorts on July 1. Starting next month, the school's Sun Belt exit fee would have jumped from $5 million to $10 million.
The Pac-12 is set to play in 2025 with just Washington State and Oregon State for a second season after the two programs failed to find homes in the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten before the 2024 season. After 2025, the conference will add five schools from the Mountain West in addition to Texas State.
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Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are joining the Pac-12 in 2026, while Gonzaga will be a non-football member in the conference.
An eight-team league gives each team in the Pac-12 seven conference games before needing to play another opponent twice. A nine or 10-team league would work out even better; teams could play eight or nine conference games without having to play someone else twice.
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